Chalice Gold Mines at record high on hitting further high-grade PGE-copper-gold at Julimar

Chalice Gold Mines Limited (ASX:CHN) (OTCMKTS:CGMLF) (FRA:C8U) has intersected further extensive wide zones of PGE-copper-gold at the Gonneville Intrusion which continue to grow the Julimar discovery into a globally significant deposit, located 70 kilometres northeast of Perth.

Ongoing step-out and resource definition drilling have extended the G4 Zone high-grade PGE-copper +/- gold footwall contact with two new internal high-grade zones, G6 and G7, defined at the southern end of the intrusion.

 A high-grade PGE-gold oxide zone has also been extended over an area of 1,700 metres by up to 750 metres and this is open to the north into the Julimar State Forest where access is pending.

“Numerous growth opportunities”

Chalice managing director Alex Dorsch said: “The Gonneville PGE-nickel-copper-cobalt-gold discovery continues to grow on multiple fronts, with another round of exceptional drill results extending the known high-grade zones, defining new zones and further reinforcing the numerous growth opportunities across the project.

“Given the width and grade of the drill results we are continuing to see over a very large area, the scale of the Gonneville Intrusion itself, and the significant growth potential beyond the limits of the current resource drilling, it is clear that Julimar is emerging as a globally significant deposit of critical metals in Western Australia.”

The company, which has been a major ASX success story in 2020, has three reverse circulation (RC) and two diamond rigs continuing a step-out and resource definition drill program at the Gonneville Intrusion, where a major high-grade PGE-nickel-copper-cobalt-gold discovery was made in March 2020.

Shares hit new record high

Reflecting Chalice’s progress, the market cap is approximately A$1.019 billion and shares today have been more than 14% higher to A$3.77, a new record high.

Julimar Project tenure over regional magnetics.

The G4 Zone has been extended to more than 800 metres of strike length and up to 500 metres of dip extent and it remains wide open.

At the G6 Zone, 400 metres of strike and up to 400 metres of dip extent has been identified and it is open down-dip, as is G7 Zone where there is 350 metres of strike and up to 475 metres of dip extent.

High-grade results

Highly encouraging new high-grade intersections include 50 metres at 1.8 g/t palladium, 0.5 g/t platinum, 0.9 g/t gold, 0.2% nickel, 1.1% copper and 0.02% cobalt from 112 metres and within this was  17 metres at 2.5 g/t palladium, 0.8 g/t platinum, 2.0 g/t gold, 0.2% nickel and 1.8% copper from 134 metres.

Other highlights are:

• 7 metres at 13.8 g/t palladium, 0.3 g/t platinum, 0.5 g/t gold, 0.2% nickel, 0.2% copper and 0.02% cobalt from 83 metres;
• 8 metres at 2.2 g/t palladium, 13.3 g/t platinum, 0.1 g/t gold, 0.1% nickel, 0.1% copper and 0.01% cobalt from 225 metres;
• 19 metres at 3.1 g/t palladium, 0.7 g/t platinum, 1.1 g/t gold, 0.2% nickel, 0.8% copper and 0.02% cobalt from 67 metres;
• 11 metres at 3.0 g/t palladium, 0.9 g/t platinum, 0.5% nickel, 0.3% copper and 0.06% cobalt from 78 metres;
• 36.6 metres at 2.7 g/t palladium, 0.6 g/t platinum and 0.1 g/t gold from 0 metres in oxide; and
• 9.8 metres at 7.7 g/t palladium, 1.2 g/t platinum and 0.3 g/t gold from 26.9 metres also in oxide.

“Two entirely new zones”

Dorsch said: “We now have sufficient drill density at the southern end of the intrusion to define two entirely new zones (G6 and G7), both of which have significant scale and include some of the highest PGE grades seen to date on the project.

“We have also recently intersected some of the widest, highest grade oxide mineralisation at this southern end of the intrusion.

“Given recent favourable leach test-work results, we believe this oxide zone could have a significant impact on project economics.”

An initial drill hole, JD018, into EM Conductor ‘X’ about 800 metres northwest of G4 Zone, intersected a 500-metre wide interval of Gonneville mafic-ultramafic rock types with broad PGE zones associated with disseminated sulphides.

This returned a high-grade interval of 3 metres at 1.9 g/t palladium, 0.5 g/t platinum, 0.5 g/t gold and 0.5% copper from 884 metres, with a similar PGE-copper-gold association to the G4 Zone – however, the intersection was cut-off by a 20-metre interval of post-mineralised dyke immediately above the footwall contact.

“Proof-of-concept”

The MD said: “Meanwhile, the first deep hole into EM Conductor ‘X’ has improved our geological understanding of the intrusion and delivered a proof-of-concept for the growth potential of the footwall contact zone (G4).

“The presence of PGE-copper-gold-rich mineralisation at the bottom of JD018 is exciting, as it indicates that the entire footwall contact of the intrusion is prospective, providing a major target position going forward.

“The intrusion is now interpreted to be a ~500m thick ‘sill’ style of mafic-ultramafic intrusion, with a consistent westerly dip and northerly plunge.

“This again reinforces the prospectivity of the recently announced Hartog EM Anomaly, located immediately north of Gonneville, in the Julimar State Forest.”

“District-scale potential”

Dorsch added: “Given that this very strong EM anomaly sits just 1.5 kilometres north of the very wide mineralised intercepts encountered in JD018, it’s not hard to see why we are so excited about the district-scale potential at Julimar.

“This is a large, multi-faceted mineralised complex which continues to surprise on the upside.

“With five rigs drilling, we are on track to meet the mid-2021 guidance for a maiden mineral resource for Gonneville and continue to prioritise the growth of the high-grade mineralised zones with step-out drilling.”

Fully-funded

Assay results are pending for a further 45 completed drill holes.

Chalice is fully funded to continue its resource drill-out and comprehensive metallurgical test-work program at Julimar with approximately $50 million in cash and investments as of September 30, 2020.

Story by ProactiveInvestors